EDITORIAL
How Ckay Became The Most Successful Nigerian Artiste On The international Scene Right Now
Many stars have emerged Internationally from Nigeria. You can count a lot of names but Ckay has grown to emerge as one of the biggest in the last few years and his journey is quite commendable.
Ckay was formerly signed to Chocolate City, just like Dice Ailes and both were making music to please their local fans. Songs like “Container“. He was heavily criticized and battered verbally by revered music journalist Osagie Alonge who engaged Choc city’s M. I demanding in the most condescending tone ” who the fk Ckay is, but it turned to become a hidden inspiration as Ckay released a 5-song mixtape titled “WHO THE FK IS CKAY“ just to show his musical prowess and prove his critics wrong.
Ckay Eventually got his breakthrough with “Love Nwantinti” released first under Choc City. It went on to become a global hit song After Ckay’s ‘Love Nwantiti’ hit 15 billion streams on TikTok on November 9, 2021, it was crowned the biggest global hit of 2021 by the Bytedance platform. This makes it an astronomical figure by any African let alone the entire globe.
The song’s 6 official versions of the original audio, remixes, and videos have generated over 1.5 billion streams from streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple music Boomplay, Audiomack, and YouTube.
Spotify seems to have the biggest numbers as the versions of the song have over 824.9 million streams on the platform. Various streaming royalty sites with updated ‘average pay per stream’ numbers bring the earnings of the song on Spotify to $3.3 million which converts to N1.3 billion.
Apple music recorded a total of 100.08 million streams which converts to $500,400 which gives N208.2 million when converted to naira.
According to a recent report, Apple Music subscribers made up 15 percent of all streaming service listeners in the global market in the second quarter of 2021, placing it in a distant second place behind Spotify the dominant platform with double the amount boasting 31 percent of the worldwide market.
Locally, Boomplay reportedly pays artists from N20 to N50 per stream, and with a cumulated 24.3 million streams, Ckay is to earn on average over N607.5 million or $1.5 million dollars. Audiomack numbers for the song have reached 33.2 million streams and with an average pay of N1.65, it will earn the singer N54.8 million or $131,654.
Video versions of the song streamed on YouTube have amassed 559.3 million streams and according to streaming Royalty calculators, the song has made him over N407.2 million ($978,775).
We aren’t even done, his most recent song “Emiliana” where he released the lyrics video this year has over 25 million views on YouTube already. He has cemented his target audience as it is observed from the comments that he now has a plethora of Latino music fans. I think his sound tilts towards the Latino and North American music market which is a rare fit for a Nigerian Artiste.
What makes Ckay Big is his streaming numbers but what also needs to follow, is a respectable chart position which will culminate in the Winning of awards and accolades just like his Senior colleagues – Burna boy, Wizkid, and Davido. Without a doubt, Ckay is a deserved Hero for his exploits so far.
The article was written by Norband Bayl
